Obituary Arthur Richard Blackford Pearce

Campaigner to save the Tannery

A SOUTH Molton businessman who dedicated
his life to preserving a local historic building,
has died.

Arthur Richard Blackford Pearce, known as
Dick, passed away peacefully at Eastleigh Care
Home on Saturday, July 10, aged 81. He lived and worked in the town’s Tannery
building for almost 75 years. Dick is survived by his wife of 48 years, Sue,
and by son, Tom, and daughter, Catherine.

Sue described Dick’s passion for the Tannery
as a “worthwhile life of endeavour.”
She recounted how pivotal he was in protecting
the Tannery buildings and the long
family history that lay behind its transformation
from busy tannery to the hive for local
businesses it is today.

Dick’s grandfather Charles Pearce bought the
Tannery in 1881 with his brother, Thomas. Dick’s father, Arthur, was a tea planter in
Ceylon — now Sri Lanka — and it was there that
Dick was born on April 12 1929. His family, including sister Phyllis, returned
to the Tannery in North Devon in the 1930s when
Dick was only seven years old. Phyllis went on to establish the well-known
Phyllis Kitching School of Dancing while Dick
dedicated the rest of his life to the Tannery.

In the early days it was a profitable business
with real demand for leather but it suffered a
steady decline over the years. As a result, in the 1960s, Dick took the decision
to diversify and created a business selling beach
products, including beach footwear, wet suits
and surfboards.

Then, in the late 1980s, Dick and his wife Sue,
began the process of transforming the Tannery
into a busy, light industrial site for local businesses
which it still is today.

Dick continued with his surfboard business
for nearly 40 years. It is the last known manufacturer of the classic
wooden surfboard that has seen a revival recently
with the annual World Bellyboarding
Championship in St Agnes, Cornwall. The competition is run in conjunction with
the National Trust and the Lifeguard Association.
Dick provided the prizes for the competitors,
many of whom use surfboards that
were made at the Tannery.

Dick continued making surfboards until he
was 80 despite having had cancer for 10 years.
It was only in the past year that he finally had
to stop due to his illness.

Daughter Catherine remembers her father not
just for his surfing legacy and hard work but for
his other exploits over the years.
She said: “He was such a colourful character
and a real Devonian at heart.
“I remember when he used to breed pigs which
would regularly escape and we’d have to herd
them up with corrugated iron sheets, or the
times when it was snowing and cars would get
stuck on the hill at the entrance to the Tannery
and he and my brother Tom would go out time
and again to help push them up.”

Dick’s wife added: “He loved a challenge, like
the cutting and laying of a straight hedge.
“He loved the countryside and family and
local history and he wanted to save the Tannery
— that was his life’s work.
He was such a generous man. He would
always turn himself inside out to help others.
I had 48 years of fun and laughter with him
and we often said to each other we could write a
book about it all but nobody would believe it.
Dick didn’t want world travel or anything
like that. All he had and all he wanted was right
here and he was a contented man. In the end
there aren’t too many of them around, are
there?”

The funeral service will take place tomorrow
[16th July] at 11.30am at the North Devon Crematorium in
Barnstaple.